As soon as she stepped into the dark hallway, any light source from behind disappeared. There was only complete darkness.
She checked her weapons, including the new staff, her lasso, and Quistis' Red Scorpion tucked along her belt. Her junction was filled, seemingly by Hune, with hundreds of spells, each with 100 charges. Her concentrated Hynescore increased her base stats significantly. In combination with all of the magics known to Earth, the junction device gave out the max reading in her Mag stat.
Whatever this ritual was, it would likely involve a lot of fighting.
Then, the whole scene brightened up. The hallway had been replaced with an infinitely huge area that looked too familiar to miss.
Trabia?
The endless snowy ground was dotted with pine trees. In the distance, the rooftop of Trabia Garden looked newly made, as if it wasn't damaged by the missiles during the Second Sorceress War.
This can't be true...
She looked at her hands and was shocked at how tiny they were. She realized her spacesuit had been replaced with a light jacket that brought back more pain than pleasure.
"A little more..."
A voice startled her, and she found herself being lifted up, her arms wrapped around someone's neck. Their white hair poked her nostrils. She immediately pushed away, but stopped when she recognized the familiar voice.
"Hold on, Alma. Trabia Garden is right there. We're safe."
Timeth?
"Tima... That's what you've been saying for hours now. Leave me here, you can run faster."
"I'm serious this time. I can't leave you alone. Snow monsters are scary. I'll freeze monsters as they come near. Oh shoot, there's one approaching. That's a Bite Bug. Sit here, I'll take care of it."
Acma felt she was taken down from the young Timeth's shoulder. He didn't look back. He grabbed a nearby branch and started to attack the Bite Bug with determined blows.
"See? Easy?" he said.
When he turned back, Acma was expecting Timeth's youthful face. But the face belonging to a giant fly with two black giant eyes greeted her instead. He quickly transformed into an enormous Bite Bug and charged at Acma.
She tried to step away, but realized her tiny legs were broken.
That's right. Her body was heavily injured in her last race before the Galbadian researchers threw her away.
"Blizzaga!"
She attempted her magic. Luckily, Hyne did not take it away. She used the staff to push the Bite Bug back before releasing another powerful blow of Blizzaga. The monster dropped dead. The illusion had disappeared, leaving her back with her spacesuit in the dark hallway.
Light emitted from her right. A rune twice her size lit up, and she could read that it was a symbol of "Fire" written in ancient Chinese.
"FIRE!"
The God's thunderous voice returned, startling her again. An energy channeled from the rune drew from her body and connected to what lay behind her. She screamed, experiencing a sharp pain as if someone was ripping her guts out of her body.
After what felt like forever, the channeling stopped, dropping her to the ground.
Is it over? She wondered.
"COME!"
The God answered her. Scared, she immediately stood up. She realized the hallway was carved to the right. The next section also showed another rune, but without light she couldn't read its symbol.
She looked at her junction and realized all Fire spells, including Fira and Firaga, were gone. Her stats had decreased slightly as a result.
Does it mean...?
She instinctively looked back, but only saw darkness that soon transformed into another piece of memory.
"Here, all yours!" Selphie placed a key into young Acma's hands. "Every two weeks, technicians from Esthar or FH will come over to supervise the progress. They will be much more helpful than I am."
"Thank you, Selphie. We'll try our best. We'll finish the simulation room on time. It's a promise!"
"I know I can count on you! Now I have all the time for myself… I mean, for the Garden Festival!"
"Garden Festival! Yay!"
"Oh, do you mind taking care of that baby Mesmerize? More Sleep potion, probably?"
Acma's gaze followed Selphie's direction. A Mesmerize was restraining on a table near their scanning machine prototype built for their magic extraction research.
"How much Sleep potion should I give it? I know it's 20 cc, but that's for an adult Mesmerize. I'm afraid I'd harm this baby Mesmerize."
"I trust your judgment. Anyway, have fun!"
"Bye, Selphie! Let's see… 15 cc maybe? Please, stay still."
The illusion disappeared once more time, and her lab coat returned to her spacesuit. She faced a giant Mesmerize this time as expected. It was mightier than any of the ones that she had killed. But the creature stood no chance against a powerful sorceress.
The new rune illuminated. To Acma's surprise, it wasn't a symbol that she readily recognized.
It isn't Thunder…
She was perplexed, but the God once again gave her the answer.
"CURE!"
What?
The channeling happened again. The pain was increasingly more painful, though she tried to focus on a more important question.
Does this mean Earth also has no Cure magics now?
As soon as she dropped to the ground, she checked her junction. Cure, Cura, Curaga were all gone.
"Why?"
She asked. The God replied with an evil laugh.
She didn't know if one hour spent in Testa would be equivalent to one hour on Earth. Having no healing magic could mean the end of lives for her home.
She rushed into the next challenge, after casting all protection spells, fearing that they would disappear soon.